Today, Babylon is located within modern-day Iraq

Today, Babylon is located within modern-day Iraq, roughly 50 miles south of Baghdad. Babylon was the capital of the Babylonian and Neo-Babylonian Empires. It was a sprawling, heavily-populated city with enormous walls and multiple palaces and temples. Famous structures and artifacts include the temple of Marduk, the Ishtar Gate, and stelae upon which Hammurabi's Code was written. Persian conquest Ilin 539 BC, the Neo-Babylonian Empire fell to Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, with a military engagement known as the Battle of Opis. It was founded around 2300 B.C. by the ancient Akkadian-speaking people of southern Mesopotamia